Creepy Clown Sightings Are Exploding Just As Stephen King’s IT Returns, And Local Police Are Sick Of It

Creepy clown sightings have taken over! Reports are coming in from all over the country about clowns who lure children into forests, stand on the street corners at night, and scare people in the dark. Police departments across the country are getting bombarded with calls from panicked people, and in some areas have even had to issue warnings against clown costumes.

Your worst childhood nightmare has come to life just as Stephen King’s IT is prepared to make a comeback. Let us take you through a walk of the states with the craziest scares, then we’ll reveal the new Pennywise look… unless you’re too spooked.

Arizona Clowns

The clowns in Arizona have been letting loose during daytime hours. Police and schools in Mesa, Arizona have been on high alert since their students have been receiving threatening texts and messages over social media from “Ain’t Clowning Around.” Over in Phoenix, officers arrested two teenagers for robbing a Taco Bell while dressed as creepy clowns, and three more for sending those scary text messages.

Arkansas Clowns

Arkansas officials are cracking down with some new clown laws. After a string of scary sightings, the state is discouraging anyone from driving around in a clown mask or posing for photos in costumes that could end up online. Police officers are expected to lead by example, with one officer in White Hall on suspended leave (with pay) for dressing as a clown and posting it on social media. The sheriff of one county said there’s a “zero tolerance” policy toward anyone dressing as a clown in order to scare others.

California Clowns

The clowns in Cali may have better tans than Midwestern carnies, but they’re equally as frightening. Residents in Los Angeles have reported seeing clowns with kitchen knives in public, a young girl was the alleged victim of an attempted kidnap, and public schools are on alert after receiving threats. The state is concerned that the clowns will start carrying concealed weapons. A couple of years ago, Bakersfield police were inundated with calls about similar scary clowns… this must feel like déjà vu to them.

Colorado Clowns

The state of Colorado is pulling in many, unsettling clown threats. Fort Collins High School students were directly targeted in late September, and police underwent a criminal investigation as to the source of the threat. Denver is populated with clown sightings, although they haven’t proved to be violent. Yet.

Pennsylvania Clowns

Pennsylvania has a severe clown problem on their hands, and we say that with a heavy heart. Stabbings and terror threats have led to a full-scale clown hunt around Penn State University, with no suspects apprehended. There have been reports of gang activity in Philadelphia, most likely related to the clown-enticed criminal activity. And in Pottsville, police say that clowns have been yelling at kids.

Florida Clowns

Florida is a crazy state… everybody knows that. With the recent clown sightings, the crazy has gone to a whole new level and in many different ways. Clowns are spying on passersby from the bushes, chasing children at bus stops, and sending threats to school via social media. One 12-year-old boy was arrested for being associated with the clown account “Ain’t Clowning Around.”

Georgia Clowns

We thought everyone in Georgia was as delightful as a peach! As it turns out, the Georgia clowns are some of the most daring. Two schoolgirls were chased by a knife-carrying clown on their way home and a public middle school was placed on lock-down because of terror threats. Police aren’t just arresting anyone with ties to the clownpocolypse, they’re arresting anyone who makes a false claim as well. This is no time to mess around!

Idaho Clowns

In Nampa, Idaho the clown sightings are becoming increasingly dangerous. Residents keep calling the police when they spot a clown, leading officers to post this message to social media: “the large number of Nampa residents who are out looking for clowns is making this more difficult to deal with.” But the scariest carnie walking around yet is the one with a machete. There’s also a brightly colored van driving around somewhere in Idaho that’s reported to have a gang of clowns travelling inside.

Maine Clowns

Maine hasn’t become too spooked by the clown sightings around the country, as they’ve only experienced non-violent encounters of their own. Reports have flooding in regarding clowns that hang around housing complexes, but they haven’t made contact… yet. In one city, the police department issued this statement to social media: “The Orono Police Department is well aware of the clown sightings within our town tonight. I know with the recent news around the country that this is making several residents nervous…We will not tolerate anyone harassing, threatening or trespassing on property. If someone wants to do this to purposely scare people, we will handle them accordingly.”

Illinois Clowns

The most talked-about clown case in Illinois is the father and daughter and who were scared by a trespassing clown on their porch. The clown ran up to them and shined a flashlight in their faces before disappearing. They saw the same clown occupying a vacant house nearby, but the police haven’t arrested him. A public school in Waukegan was also placed on lock-down after clowns were taunting the students on the institution’s perimeter. Police throughout the state remain on high alert for more reports of sightings.

Maryland Clowns

The clowns in Maryland haven’t committed any violent acts, but they are scaring the bejeezus out of people. Police have issued a press statement asking the pranksters to knock it off and calling for residents to report any clown sightings immediately. Sadly, the town of Hagerstown lost all their parade clowns due to the incidents. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.

Nebraska Clowns

Nebraska may have made a few arrests since the clown sightings started to explode, but that hasn’t stopped more and more masked carnies from from chasing residents around the state. One woman recently reported a clown knocking at her back window in the middle of the night and there have been sightings of a clown gang carrying a BB gun. The primary suspects are local teenagers. Omaha police say they are working closely with Omaha Public Schools to ensure students’ safety.

New Jersey Clowns

New Jersey clowns are trying to lure children into the woods, and if they don’t come willingly, they’re chased. Other reports of clown gangs riding around in trucks and travelling in groups have surfaced, worrying schools around the state. A spokesman from Toms River Police Department suggested that a new movie promotion has onset the clown phenomenon, but the department has increased security as a precaution.

Indiana Clowns

Clown sightings are most frequent at college campuses such Indiana University, Purdue, and Indiana State. The occasional sighting is reported around the state as well, but factual claims and dirty hoaxes continue to get fused together, unfortunately. One city’s police wrote, “This is a Facebook scare that is blown itself out of control and continues to grow with each post and has the city in a panic for no reason” in an online post.

Massachusetts Clowns

Schools in Massachusetts are also going on lock-down. Merrimack College went into lock-down as students were told to find shelter after a report was made regarding an armed clown on campus. Police weren’t able to find the suspect, or the proof that the clown even existed. Cops in Dartmouth released a humorous PSA, in which several of them exit their vehicle “clown car” style before announcing that there is a zero tolerance for clown threats.

Oklahoma Clowns

The clownpocolypse isn’t funny, but what’s even less hysterical are the jokes made at the expense of civilians. Oklahoma City experienced a gun shot altercation in a Walmart parking lot and turned the event into a clown-inspired parody. The picture above makes fun of an Oklahoma resident for “wearing too much makeup” and mistaken for a clown. Authentic sightings in the state take place primarily on college campuses and children’s playgrounds. Police have said that all of the recent sighting reports are “unfounded.”

Ohio Clowns

Ohio is also receiving its share of clown threats. Most of the reported claims have detailed aggressive clowns carrying weapons, mainly knives. Clowns in Norwalk are lurking in the woods and breaking into people’s homes, potentially armed and dangerous. In Columbus, there was a large faction of teenagers who claim to have been chased by a six-foot-tall clown with a knife in his hand. Arrests across the state have continued into the month of October.

Nevada Clowns

The town in Nevada most affected by clown sightings is Sparks. The costumed goons seem to be harmless so far, although there has been a clown sighting or two where the clowns are carrying machetes. Machetes are being reported as the second weapon of choices in most states, after knives, making us wonder if the lumberjack clown is just a hoax as well? Police in Las Vegas area schools have been addressing many scary clown threats.

North Carolina Clowns

Clown attacks in North Carolina are mainly committed in or near the woods. The first official sightings centered around a traditional looking clown, offering children treats to come into the forest. Since the initial report, the clown has been spotted many more times by children and is warned against by adults. In Greensboro, NC, a police spokesperson said, “If this is a hoax or publicity stunt it is not funny. It is alarming to the public and a drain on police resources. We just don’t know at this point, because we haven’t had the chance to interview any clowns.”

Connecticut Clowns

The state of Connecticut implemented one of the biggest clown hunts in the country. Hundreds of university students grabbed athletic equipment and went on a clown hunt after the local police received at least 30 calls reporting clown sightings. The mob didn’t find any clowns on their campus and were rumored to have gone into lock-down afterwards. Cops in Connecticut are not amused, saying that anyone who dresses as a clown and engages in intimidating behavior will be dealt with appropriately.

Rhode Island Clowns

Clowns are attacking the state of Rhode Island through social media. Terrorizing threats are coming through Facebook and other platforms, making the citizens concerned for well-being. Clowns have spotted hanging out in Slater Park, chasing their victims away. In response, Rhode Island Public Safety Commissioner Antonio Pires addressed kids’ response to these incidents. “It has been particularly troubling for schoolchildren. They have a high level of anxiety over it. When you begin to see it running like wildfire, the concern is the kids’ psyche,” he said.

Tennessee Clowns

Tennessee experienced one of the worst clown sightings, in robbery form. A pair of criminals, one whom was dressed as a clown, robbed a bank in Memphis. They carried explosives inside with them as they collected their stolen money. A few public schools throughout the state have also undergone a clown-induced lock-down. As in many other states, Tennessee cops have their resources tested with all the reports coming in.

Texas Clowns

Texas is a big state with a lot clown sightings to follow up on. A social media tirade has been unleashed by the clowns, dragging students into their mess and getting them into some major trouble. Texas students are urging, maybe even daring, the clowns to come to their schools and scare them. There are claims of clowns attacking young women at Texas State University. All of these threats are keeping Texas police very busy recently.

Oregon Clowns

Police in several Oregon cities have now issued warnings to the public about all these sinister clown sightings. In Portland, a teenage clown attempted to break into a woman’s car in a parking lot.. while she was inside. Another interesting report was that of a 55-year-old retiree dressed up as a clown scaring kids at a middle school. This led the Dallas, Oregon Police Department to write, “What a person can’t do is scare and then chase middle-school children down the street while they are walking to school.”

Vermont Clowns

At this time, Vermont has only one experience with clown sightings. On October 5th, a 15-year-old student was arrested at his high school for banging on classroom windows while dressed as a clown. The police department sent out a message to the public discouraging this type of behavior, but we’re pretty sure this kid was just trying to be funny.

Utah Clowns

Utah couldn’t get any weirder, so naturally, the clowns had to migrate into the already controversial state. Facebook threats have been made by clown accounts towards the state’s public schools, but the police aren’t too scared yet. Utah actually seems to have one of the lowest number of reported clown sightings in the country, so far at least.

Michigan Clowns

The clowns in Michigan want to scare the population more than anything else. Reports of aggressive “clowning around” have been made, but no direct physical contact has been made. If we move on to Detroit, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, we’ll find that no one is surprised to hear about a gun-toting clown that goes around robbing local businesses. In fact, this same person allegedly attempted to shoot police who were pursuing them after they committed two other clown-masked robbery attempts in Livonia, Michigan.

Virginia Clowns

In the state of Virginia wearing a mask or concealing your identity over the age of 16 is a felony. The older clowns being sighted throughout the state are breaking the law in many different ways, but aggressively attacking citizens is still the worst. In one particular incident, a 13-year-old boy was taken into custody by the police after he created a social media account, pretending to be a clown and praising a school shooting.

New Hampshire Clowns

Clown sightings in New Hampshire are new, but somewhat unfounded. While there was a concrete sighting of a clown wandering the campus of New Hampshire University, other reports have fallen flat. Police are currently following leads on social media of any clown whereabouts and are pursuing them accordingly.

Missouri Clowns

Missouri clowns have threatened a Howard County school system with a terrorist action over Facebook. The post stated the the group of clowns would kidnap unsuspecting students and kill their teachers in the process. The county went into lock-down but there was no suspect or arrests made. In another Missouri case, a police officer responding to yet another clown report issued this statement: “Well it turns out one of the girls has [sic] a little bit of a fear of clowns so they decided to play a joke on her. They had one of the husbands put on a black outfit and put on a creepy clown mask.” Oops.

Wisconsin Clowns

Wisconsin has had it a fair share of clown sightings in 2015, but that’s mainly attributed to one clown who used to hang around street corners at night. The reputation of that one clown only instigated fear in the state’s citizens, even though there few clown sightings have been debunked. Mothers are reportedly keeping their children home from school in the meantime. Wisconsin Cops arrested one couple after they left their four-year-old child at home so they could go out playing clown pranks.

South Carolina Clown

South Carolina clowns are some of the true originals in the clownpocolypse. They emerged back in the middle of August and haven’t given up their territory quite yet. Their standard tricks include offering treats to kids to lure them into the woods, and playing ding dong ditch at private residences. The Greenville, SC police chief is fed up with all the clownish activity they’ve seen and has issued a stern warning to copycats.

New Mexico Clowns

Clowns are making problems for the police New Mexico, as well. Masked carnies are wandering the region with baseball bats and bad attitudes. Cops report that they’ve received calls about clowns in multiple NM cities, from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.

Mississippi Clowns

Mississippi clown sightings haven’t been as common, but they’re extremely startling. Reports of crazy clown behavior usually consists of them running across a main highway or hiding in a cemetery at night. One Mississippi cop, Tchula Chief Kenneth Hampton has a record for people who commit these types of antics: “I am more afraid for the clown than I am for the citizens because pretty much everyone here has shotguns. The bottom line is, if he’s running around with a sword or a machete, he’s subject to get shot in this area.”

West Virginia Clowns

West Virginia clowns are turning out to be more of a hoax than factual. There is one creepy clown that exists for certain, and he’s usually found lurking around Simmons River Road in the town of Duhring. One WV sheriff has said that investigating the many clown reports coming in is taxing to local police departments’ resources.

Washington Clowns

Washington clowns can supposedly be found hiding underneath bridges and in the woods, tactfully crafting their art of surprise. The state’s police department didn’t take the unpleasant surprises too seriously, until a group of teenagers at a Washington high school received death threats over texts. Allegedly, a clown with a knife was seen around that same campus afterwards and it led to two other schools closing down until further notice. However, local cops in Lynnwood, WA, say that an investigation determined that the activities were “non-criminal in nature.”

New York Clowns

Gangs of clowns have been sighted running around Pixley Park with baseball bats and knives. The group was reported to the police multiple times but have had no luck finding the suspects. Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn has its own clown problem; the Greenwood Cemetery clown is dressed exactly like the original Pennywise from IT and while he is a little creepy, he hasn’t bothered anyone yet.

The NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Deputy Commissioner John Miller has said, “There have been attempts to make threats, over social media, involving clowns in New York City. We’re tracking them. We’re tracing them. But our people that deal in the threat world every day and assess these threats have found none of these to be credible.”

Kentucky Clowns

Kentucky clowns are trespassing onto people’s private property. A resident in Plano called the police to report a clown in her daughter’s backyard and the police arrested a 20-year-old man for lurking around an apartment complex at 2 am with his mask on. The most unsettling report from Kentucky happened in Winchester, where a woman walking a trail was assaulted by a clown at night. Police throughout the state are on high alert.

The New Pennywise Clown

The new Pennywise is sure to haunt your dreams long after you’ve seen the Stephen King reboot of IT! The new costume design is brought to a more modern style and that smirk is ridiculously horrifying. It’s not a secret that Stephen King has a large mainstream following as well as cult fan-base, but could the country’s collective problem with creepy clown sightings be influenced by the ultimate nightmare clown?